The commencement of the Postal Vote BD Registration for the 13th National Parliamentary Election was assured as a landmark of inclusivity. Nonetheless, millions of Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) living in Europe and the USA, the process is presenting a digital blocker to the realisation of their rights.
The use of technology in elections may ostensibly prevent fraudulent voting but in practical terms, technical exclusion is creating ghost voters in several countries. According to the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC), it has sent the ballots to 121 countries. But the on-the-ground information tells a different story. Between Boston and Berlin, promises of ballots to be cast have not materialised.
The Bangladeshi Election Commission (EC) announced dispatching postal ballots for 767,028 expatriate voters in 121 countries. But a huge chasm remains in Boston in the cold weather. According to a well-known Non-Resident Bangladeshi (NRB) researcher Robin, the information sounds like news from another world than a victory of democracy.
“I have seen in the news about the Postal Vote BD app registration. However, in the NRB community here, it is a ghost,” Robin says. The government may say that the phasing in of the app went smoothly, but Robin and thousands like him have never even seen the Postal Vote BD app link, let alone used it to successfully register for the Postal vote online. If the authorities claim the ballots have been sent but the voters have not even seen the app, who are they voting for?
A digital divide or a deliberate gap?
The 13th national parliamentary election to take place on February 12, 2026, is being designed in Dhaka as a high-tech masterpiece. However, the diaspora is still in the dark about the Postal Vote BD app for Android and iOS.
The gap in communication raises a burning question: How can an election be considered to be “fair” when the primary tool through which external influence is being exercised is utterly imperceptible to the influencers?
For the minority Hindu Bangladeshi community, the technical flaw is not a bug, but a signal. For many in the community, the upcoming elections and a simultaneous referendum are being seen more and more as a “farce.” In the tea shops of Jackson Heights and community centres of London, conversation has shifted from “who to vote for” to “does the vote exist at all?”
Another NRB, Sajal Das, based in Canada, said, “The application does not accept Canada address. This indicates that “FCM ID can not be empty”. Made an Attempt From a Different Phone.”
Security, influence, and the Hindu minority perspective
Bangladesh’s minorities have long felt the effects of the “spill-over effect” of its internal security shifts. For Hindu NRBs, the non-transparency in the Postal Vote BD website registration process indicates a more systemic exclusion. When the bridge of the digital fails, the “public conversation” goes silent. In Boston, Robin probably cannot find the Postal Vote BD app Bangladesh official download, which makes the legitimacy of 767,028 “sent” ballots suspicious.
“Without a verifiable trail of Postal Vote BD online Registration, ghost voting will take place in the February 12 polls. One fact is clear. A digital vote is only as democratic as its access. If the diaspora ends up searching for a broken link, the 13th National Election will not be remembered for its technology but for its mute,” Robin said.
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